Online Event Archive Recorded: January 28, 2026
Learn more about the application process to host a graduate student for a member-designed, 9-month fellowship project that drives your organization’s mission forward.
The fellowship pairs innovative, graduate-level talent with NCRC members to address pressing issues such as climate resilience, affordable housing, food and water security, community health & wellness, wealth building, small business development, and workforce development. Fellows will spearhead a project that the host organization would otherwise be unable to undertake, while gaining real-world experience and receiving a $20,000 stipend.
Member applications for the 2026 Fellowship for Equitable Development are open from February 3-27, 2026.
Speakers
Laura Bentley, Director, Grant Administration, Community Impact, NCRC
Dia Henderson, Program Manager, Community Impact, NCRC
Transcript:
NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.
Bentley 0:07
Hello, everyone. We’re going to get started now. Thank you so much for joining us today and for your interest in the Fellowship for Equitable Development. This is our member informational webinar for those who are interested in becoming hosts for the fellowship for the 2026 cohort, thanks for joining us. As we advance to the next slide, you can please make sure to introduce yourself in the chat, and we will get going. So first, some housekeeping notes. First, is that the NCRC Code of Conduct applies to this as well as all gatherings. Secondly, we did not allow AI chatbots to join the call. However, the call will be available to attendees afterwards on our fellowship homepage, so it will be recorded and made available to you all. And of course, if you do have any questions, you can submit those via the Q and A module at the bottom of the Zoom screen. We’re going to answer as many of those as we can at the end of the session, and we’ll be sharing our contact information as well, so you can always follow up if anything else comes up after the session. And lastly, you’ll see at the bottom left, there some essential links and tags to follow us and to be able to engage with our content at NCRC. And at the very bottom there, you will see the homepage for the fellowship specifically, so that’s where the recording will be made available, as well as all information around the fellowship. With that we will get going.
So first, for those of you who may not be familiar, NCRC is the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. We are a national nonprofit organization with over 700 members as part of our coalition, and we focus on a variety of different areas, from health equity to research, housing counseling and policy, all under the same umbrella and with the same goal of building wealth in low-wealth communities across the nation. So our agenda for today we’ll be going over the community impact team introductions. We’ll be talking about the fellowship. We’ll be going into the role of host organizations for members. We’ll be talking about benefits for members to becoming a host organization, examples of past products/ projects, so you can get a feel for those. We’ll be going through the fellowship timeline in more detail, and then we’ll be giving you a preview of what to expect in the host application. And then, of course, we’ll have time for Q and A at the end.
So next, my name is Laura Bentley, and I’m the director of grant administration with NCRC and part of the community impact team. And so in addition on our team, we have Luis Ortiz, one of our program managers, and also Dia Henderson, our other program manager within community impact, and she is the lead for the fellowship program, using the acronym FED for Fellowship for Equitable Development. So you’ll see that acronym coming up a fair bit. And Dia will be both the lead on this program, your main point of contact, and she’s joining me on this presentation to take it from here, so I’ll pass it to you, Dia.
Henderson 3:14
Thank you, Laura. Hi everybody like Laura said, I am Dia Henderson. I’m one of the program managers for community impact, and again, I am the FED lead and your primary contact for the fellowship. So I just wanted to give everyone an idea of what exactly the fellowship is. The Fellowship for Equitable Development is a program that prepares our next generation of community development leaders to help address the current and future challenges that we all are facing now by advancing programs that you all propose through housing, small business and workforce development, through direct community impact and a pipeline development with community members. So this is an eight-month paid fellowship for graduate students, graduate students, specifically graduate students and above. So that also includes our doctor and PhD students, MBA students also. So this eight-month paid fellowship helps the fellow not only learn more about this industry, but also helps drive your mission forward via a member design community development project. These projects will address affordable housing, small business development, climate resilience, community health and wellness, racial wealth building and so much more. So we are prioritizing fellowship projects that reflect this framework that we like to use. We are looking for projects that aim to move the needle on racial wealth building, community health and wellness, environmental justice through the avenues of housing, small business and economic mobility for BIPOC and LMI communities in our FED target geographies, which I will touch on literally in the next slide. So the. Is our priority geography, our target areas that we are prioritizing for this upcoming fellowship. Our areas include Buffalo, New York, Denver, Colorado, Detroit, Michigan, Hartford, Connecticut, Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, North Carolina, Tacoma, Washington, Tennessee, the overall, and then Texas and Washington, DC, we are asking that you all have physical office locations in these areas, because there is a in person aspect to these placements, and it is one of our biggest requirements for the fellowship. I’ll get more into why we’re having in-person placements, but as of right now, we would love for you to know that we will like you to have physical locations in these areas.
So what is your role as a host? So for next year or this upcoming cohort, we are asking that, as a host, you supervise the fellow and track their deliverables. I’ll touch more on deliverables when we get into content, but these are deliverables that you all set for your fellow, and we ask that you track their deliverables and make sure that they are following the plan to execute the mission or execute your project, and advocate for your mission, for your organization. We also ask that you provide opportunities for in-person team connection. We found that when the fellow has an opportunity, opportunity to be in person with their host organization, they not only are building that bond with a team, but also getting that professional development of being able to work with the team and have resources and being on the ground to really see the communities that we are all working for. We also ask that you administer a $20,000 stipend to the fellow, along with respecting their 20 hours per week, part-time commitment. Again, these are graduate or higher-level students, so they do have commitment to school. So we also, we want to emphasize that you really do respect that 20 hours a week. And then finally, we ask that you turn in two reports as a host, one being the interim report and the second being a closeout report at the end of the fellowship program.
So what are your benefits? What are you getting out of this? You get to collaborate with new talent to help advance your organization’s mission. You also get to empower the next generation of community development leaders and really teach them what it means to work for and towards a just economy, alongside really pushing your mission and what drives you all’s organization every day, also, you will receive a $5,000 administrative stipend for your own use. And then finally, there’s little to no cost to do this program. This program really is to highlight you as an organization, but also really, like we said, empower that next generation and all we really are asking for is your time and commitment to not only the fellow, but to NCRC.
I wanted to give you all an idea of what some of the projects that you propose can look like. So here are some past projects that we have. So we have a fellow in Portland, Oregon right now working with Housing Oregon to really advance and advocate for Black homeownership and Black housing and really closing that racial wealth gap for BIPOC communities in the Portland, Oregon area. We also have a fellow right now in Connecticut, New Haven, to be specific, with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven Mission Investment Company. This fellow has been doing some research, been looking for resources and also doing some technical assistance for new and small businesses within the area, focusing on BIPOC, SEDI and women owned organization, women-owned small businesses, and really helping them find those resources for funding. And then finally, we have Hip Hop Caucus, where they have a fellow currently working on their green initiative for green financing and really supporting the bank black Green campaign by doing some research, and also their fellow has been doing some advocacy work and doing some speaking engagements, also to really advocate, to help mobilize investments into MDIs and CDFIs, and like I said, the green financing.
So just to break down the application process right now, NCRC members will apply. Then we will have some time to review applications and select those projects. After that, our students will select, pick from those projects. They will select which project they would like to apply to, and they will apply. The top candidates we interview by us, and then we will take some of those top candidates and have you all interview them, and you will come back with your selections. After selections, we would have a NCRC member and student onboarding / orientation process. And then come September, I believe the fellowship will commence. Yes, so just to give you all some more specific times on that timeline, February is when your host application will open. March is when we will do that selection of hosts and projects. April is the time when the fellows will apply. Come May, we will start doing the finalist selections, and then by the end of May, I hope to have you know a few finalists for you all to interview. So come June, you would have those interviews with those finalists. You would tell me what those who your fellow would be. I would send that fellow an award letter and an agreement to sign for both you and the fellow. Then come August, the pre-launch orientation meeting, just to go over some housekeeping and you know the general rules. September is when the official fellowship will start. In between, there we’ll have some check-ins and some trainings for the fellows. February will be our interim report being due, and then may is our busier time. That’s when we have our just economy conference, where students are required, and we highly encourage our host to join. We also have the time when our fellowship will be ending, and then our closeout reports will be due also. So again, your fellow, your application process is from February 3 through the 27th just to give you an idea of what that content will look like, we’re asking for some contact information. We’re also asking, Where are you so in regards to those target areas that I showed earlier, like I said, we will be prioritizing those areas on that list. But that does not mean that we are not encouraging other folk to apply that are not necessarily in those target areas. So we do want to know where you all are.
We also are asking for the supervisor or the like, the point of contact, for the supervisor, for the fellow, alongside what is your full-time staff and what is your capacity? We also are asking for Sorry, I have like a cold, so I’m trying to get through this. But we also are asking you to describe your project and how that moves the needle on community development and for a just economy. So referring back to that framework that I showed earlier, where on that framework do you all in your project live? We’re also asking for the fellow title and summary of their main responsibilities. We’re asking that you all just don’t say NCRC fellowship. We want you know our fellows to have a real title and have something that they can really represent on their resume, alongside some of the key and core responsibilities that they will have. Then we are looking at having you all submit a work plan, which I will show in just a bit. That work plan basically will break down exactly where our fellows should be by month or by quarter, while also showing us those deliverables that we talked about earlier. We also ask that you give us a descriptive insight of what your schedule looks like if you’re fully in-person, or if you’re a hybrid office, what that would look like. And then also what your preferred dates or days you will want your fellows to be in the office. We just want that schedule so we can match it to their schedule. And then also, we’re looking for onboarding, training and supervision plans. So what is that going to look like when you all meeting? When would they expect to get paid? How long would the training take? Are you going to take a week before the official fellowship starts? Are you going to take the first week? Just so we have an idea of how to prepare our fellows. And then finally, if you have any additional funding sources for this project, please let us know we would love to to have some insight.
So I’m going to show you all our work plan template, if you can give me one second. So this is our work plan. We ask that you all resubmit this as an Excel through the application, we will be providing this template on the application, so just download it and then fill it out and resubmit. But essentially, it comes with a blank version and just a reference version or example. So you have some idea of what to report on or what to fill out. But up here, we ask that you give us some detailed deliverables that you would like to be, you know, have done by the end of the fellowship time. And then also this blue section here is the full work plan. This is where you’ll tell us the milestones and activities that the fellow will be completing month by month, just so when you all check in, you have something to reference going back to like, if you’re in November and you’re looking you’re reflecting on September and October, just making sure that those milestones and activities that you did record are done. Or if there needs to be a pivot, you have a reference point. We have put the key dates of the closeout reports in here, and then we also have the requirements at the bottom. So again, remember, in that 20-hour per week commitment, and that when you are filling this out, just try to be realistic in that sense of how much capacity and work can a graduate-level student do over the course of the next eight months. So again, here’s that, that example for reference. If you have any questions or, you know, get stuck with what this should look like. We’ve tried to break it down by month, but if it works better to break it down by quarter or by a different timeline, that’s still perfectly fine. Again, I ask that you submit this via Excel and not a PDF, so I will reshare really quickly.
So again, some of those key dates for you all would be for the host application. It opens February 3 at 9 am Eastern and closes promptly at 5 pm eastern on the 27, of February. The application link will be posted on our homepage for the fellowship, where you all went to press to watch the to register for the webinar. That’s where we’re going to put the application. So come the third please be on the lookout for that, and that is where you can apply. We also ask that you stay connected with us, so if you have any specific questions, if you could just contact us at impact@ncrc.org, I will try to get back to you as soon as possible, hopefully I answer most of the questions here, or you know, after this, we will have our Q A session. But if you have any specific questions or just need some clarification, please feel free to reach out to us. And again, our fellowship homepage has some details about the fellowship. Also that we have host testimonials. We have just a breakdown of the timeline there, also, and then also our specific description of the fellowship with those target areas also. We also, I’m not sure if Ralph is on here, but we also have our membership email. So if you have any specific questions about membership, or about your specific membership, please email membership@ncrc.org if you’re not yet a member, one thing about this program, it is required that you, as a host organization must be a NCRC member. So if you’re not yet a member, please feel free to go to ncrc.org/join and make sure you join our membership.
Cyrus 17:30
Yeah. The one thing I was also going to add is, if you want to know about other membership benefits as well, feel free to reach out to myself or my colleague at membership@ncrc.org. We’re happy to talk more about what other membership benefits you’ll be able to utilize.
Henderson 17:52
Thank you, Ralph. And then also quick reminder that we have our annual just economy conference coming up April 14 through the 15th. Here at Washington Hilton, here at the Washington Hilton in DC, we also have Hill day where folks get to really get on the ground and get to talk to our officials on April 16. So I would encourage you all, if you’re interested, to really look into that and go to ncrc.org/conference, to get more information and to register for the conference. So I just wanted to take this time to answer any questions that might be in the chat. I can’t physically see the chat, so if somebody can read some of the questions for me, that’d be great. But I’m here to answer any questions you may have.
Bentley 18:41
Yeah, I can pop in there to share some of those around the the Q amp a I have been answering those in writing, so we’ll go over a couple of the the big ones here, and feel free to continue to use the Q amp a module to submit your questions at the same time as we begin to go over these, I believe Haley will be adding into the chat a quick survey for you all to share your feedback on how this session is and so we continue to improve these sessions going forward. So please feel free to see that popping up in the chat and to answer that. Okay, so going through some questions here. The first question, Dia, could you go back to the section that talks about the timeline for the fellowship application, and could you just clarify, maybe go over that process again? I think the that blue flow chart, this one, okay, there’s just a question in the chat, if you could clarify that process.
Henderson 19:44
Yeah, for sure. So come February, you all would be applying. Once February is over, and I’ve already, you know, evaluated some of the or all of them, actually, all of the applications, we would then look at the rubric make sure that all the requirements are met. We. Would then select our host organizations or our projects. From there, we would make a project profile to put on our website for our students to see. Our students will then apply for their fellowship while also evaluating your project. So they’ll pick a project, and then they’ll also put it like in their application the top candidates for each project will be interviewed. After we interview them, we also send our top one to three candidates, depending on how many people apply, one to three candidates to you all to interview. Once you come back with your notes, we will all make the final decision. The fellow be notified. We will have those agreements signed. And then around August, we will do a onboarding slash orientation for both the member or host organizations and also the students. And then September, beginning of September, that’s when the fellowship starts.
Bentley 20:57
Thanks. That’s great. Let’s see here. We have a question of, will proposals be accepted outside of the priority areas?
Henderson 21:07
Yes. So we, again, we are prioritizing those that are in those target geographies. However, we will be considering and looking at proposals and projects from other areas, also.
Bentley 21:20
Awesome. Thank you. Could you share that slide just with the geographies? I think some folks were hoping to see those again and all. Oh, yeah, go ahead
Henderson 21:28
Also, like I mentioned at the end on our fellowship homepage, these same geographies are there too for your reference. Wonderful.
Bentley 21:38
Thanks. And there was a question about, what’s the process to become a prioritized NCRC geography? So that’s not an application process at this time. Those target geographies are established per cohort year. So this is just related to the 2026, fellowship cohort. Those were established to focus the NCRC resources and the grant funds that we have available for this to maximize local impact. And so these target geographies were determined following a research assessment that include a variety of factors, including demographics, housing affordability, rental costs, the impact of extreme weather events and bank presence across US geographies as well as other factors. And so just to be aware that these analyzes will continue to occur in the future, and so they may also result in different geographies for future cohorts. But again, as Zia mentioned, if you’re not located in one of these priority geographies and you’re still interested, please do apply. We just want you to know that these are the areas that would be prioritized for this particular cohort. And let’s see. We do have a question here, Dia, will you consider fellow candidates that are referred to by the prospective host organization?
Henderson 22:55
Yes, please. We are really working with our universities right now, but also our host organizations to recommend any specific people and or work with their local universities to really put this program out there. So if you do have someone that you want to recommend, please encourage them to apply, and we will review their application.
Bentley 23:18
Thank you. Let’s see here. There’s a question of, will the presentation be shared with all participants? That’s been mentioned? It’ll be on the fellowship homepage. Maybe Dia if you want to pop back to that end slide with the fellowship homepage listed there. That’s where all of this information will be available too. So if you’re wondering when Will, where will the application be posted, or what’s the date on a particular thing, that information will always be on that homepage. So feel free to use that as your as your one stop resource, as well as obviously letting us know if you have any questions. Let’s see here, we have a question on whether or not the project needs to focus on one community in particular, just as we were talking about the focus geographies, our hope is to provide localized impact in those geographies. And so certainly, we’d be looking for proposals where that is where the impact is located. So if you do have multiple, perhaps footprints that your organization covers. It would be ideal if the fellowship project is focused on one in our target geographies, and again, if you’re outside of those geographies, then obviously that does not apply. It can focus on multiple geographies as well. If you have something that covers a number of different areas, so that was just something to bear in mind. If you’re able to tune into some of those target geographies, that is where our focus is, and if not, you can also suggest your proposal as it is. Let’s see here, Dia, can you just talk a little bit about the payment? So there’s a question you know, Will. Most organizations be responsible for paying the fellow from their own funds. Can you just go over a little bit about the funding breakdown and who receives what and who pay with the money?
Henderson 25:10
Question, yeah. So as far as payment we, as NCRC, we give you all the 20, $20,000 type in for the fellow, and it is up to you to distribute that. So that’s why, when I mentioned here we are, so when I mentioned the onboarding, training and supervision plan that would include payment, also, if you plan on having them as a What is it, w2 worker or a contractor, and how they will be paid? So that sometimes we have folks that add the fellow to their current payroll, whether that be bi-weekly or bi-monthly, or we do have a few months few folks that also do, like every quarter they get paid. So that’s just something that you as an organization will have to work with your finance department. But also, we’ve had a few people work with the student to see the most beneficial and optimal way to be paid. But at the end of the day, you all are paying that stipend does not come from, like we don’t directly pay the fellow. You all would pay the fellow with the funds that we give you.
Bentley 26:15
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that highlights point that this is a essentially a no-cost program, right? We will be providing the funds that you will pass through to the fellow, and we also provide an administrative stipend that $5,000 that dia mentioned to help offset any administrative costs associated with providing payroll services to the fellow, etc. Let’s see that’s coming through to most of the questions. If you did happen to post something in the chat and it hasn’t been answered, please go ahead and put that into the Q and A.
Henderson 26:53
And again, if you haven’t had the time to Haley dropped a survey in the chat, and we would love if you could fill that out for us, please. Thank you.
Bentley 27:04
And then lastly, there’s a question about accessibility to students with disabilities. Regarding the application, to the best of our understanding, it is accessible to folks. If there’s any concern that anyone may have in terms of accessing the application, please let us know so that we can continue to improve how the application is set up. So we’d be happy to get any additional questions on that specifically as well. Not seeing any additional questions. So maybe we can just pop to that contact page again, so that for all of you to be aware, of course, we’re not going anywhere, you can always find us at impact@ncrc.org, and we’d be happy to answer any other questions that do come out, Now, I’ll pass it to you to close this out to you again.
Henderson 28:06
Just want to remind everybody to please join us at this year’s just economy conference at the Hilton, at the Washington Hilton in DC, and also Hill Day, if you are able to make it again, that registration link would be ncrc.org/conference, I would like to thank everybody for joining us today. Again. If you have any specific questions, please reach out to myself or Laura at that impact@ncrc.org I’m here to answer any questions. I do appreciate everyone for considering being a host organization for the fellowship program, and I hope to hear from you all, and I look forward to reading everybody’s application.
